fall off the wagon
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Originally fall off the water wagon or fall off the water cart, referring to carts used to hose down dusty roads:[1][2][3] see the 1901 quotation below. The suggestion is that a person who is “on the wagon” is drinking water rather than alcoholic beverages. The term may have been used by the early 20th-century temperance movement in the United States; for instance, William Hamilton Anderson (1874 – c. 1959), the superintendent of the New York Anti-Saloon League, is said to have made the following remark about Prohibition: “Be a good sport about it. No more falling off the water wagon. Uncle Sam will help you keep your pledge.”
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb[edit]
fall off the wagon (third-person singular simple present falls off the wagon, present participle falling off the wagon, simple past fell off the wagon, past participle fallen off the wagon)
- (idiomatic) To cease or fail at a regimen of self-improvement or reform; to lapse back into an old habit or addiction.
- Though he fell off the wagon several times, he eventually succeeded in quitting.
- 2014 August 11, Dave Itzkoff, “Robin Williams, Oscar-Winning Comedian, Dies at 63 in Suspected Suicide”, in New York Times:
- In 2006, he checked himself into the Hazelden center in Springbrook, Ore., to be treated for an addiction to alcohol, having fallen off the wagon after some 20 years of sobriety.
- 2018 September 8, Steven Hyden, “His Sh*t’s F***ed Up: The Complicated Legacy of Warren Zevon”, in The Ringer[1], retrieved 2018-09-08:
- After nearly 17 years of sobriety, Zevon fell off the wagon hard when he was diagnosed.
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Translations[edit]
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References[edit]
- ^ Michael Quinion (created July 18, 1998, last updated January 27, 2006) “On the wagon”, in World Wide Words.
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “wagon”, in Online Etymology Dictionary, retrieved 2019-10-08: “Phrase on the wagon "abstaining from alcohol" is attested by 1904, originally on the water cart.”
- ^ Robert Hendrickson (1997) The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, rev. and exp. edition, New York, N.Y.: Facts On File, →ISBN.